Slow Down and Linger

This afternoon after attending Easter service this morning and brunch afterwards, we spent most of the day lounging around in our front yard.  Neighbors came in out as the day went on, and we parked ourselves there until pretty much sunset.

One neighbor brought over ice cold beers to share.  We brought out cold drinks for the kids.  Another neighbor had chips and guacamole, another still had toys they dumped across the rows of lawns for all the kids.  At one point, I brought out some boiled eggs and a bunch of bowls full of dye.  It was an activity I planned to do just with my kids, but I realized, why not include all the kids?

We ended up all sitting outside of our yard, and talking the day away.  It was fantastic.  Everyone shared what they had, and that led to a much, much more abundant bounty than any of us individually could have produced.  I looked around at all the kids and a couple of the baby girls on the block were wearing hand-me-downs that were once the girls' clothes.  Grant, too, wore another neighborhood boy's old duds.  It was awesome!

It was another reminder to keep time and space open in our lives to allow others in.  We were able to postpone dinner, and delay any plans we might have had in order to gather outside with all of our neighbors.  And it was so, so worth it.

What about you?  What could you do to slow down the pace of your daily living to let others' in?  This is definitely the time of year to do it.  In the spring and summer months it feels much more organic to linger out of doors and just naturally run into others on the street.